Westfarms Lawsuit: Bad Form, Bad Business

November 14, 2004|By Tom Condon Tom Condon is the editor of Place. He can be reached at condon@courant.com.

West Hartford residents have been very good to Westfarms mall over the years, pouring millions of dollars into the mall's many stores and restaurants.

Do the mall's corporate owners offer a glimmer of gratitude for decades of support? No, they do not. Instead they've made a corporate decision to try to stick it to the town.

The mall's corporate owner, Taubman Centers of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., has filed a lawsuit against West Hartford and the developer of the Blue Back Square project. Having lost before the council and lost in a townwide referendum despite spending hundreds of thousands of dollars, the mall now resorts to the courts to try to stop the proposed $158.8 million mixed-use development planned for West Hartford Center.

The lawsuit alleges the town exceeded its authority by approving the sale of town property and the issuance of bonds for the Blue Back complex. The lawsuit also claims that the town council did not hire independent experts to review the plan, as required by its own rules.

The plaintiffs seek an injunction to stop the project immediately.

It's not just that this lawsuit is shameless, ungrateful, small-minded and spiteful, it's bad business. It hurts the mall's image. More than 12,000 people voted for Blue Back, and many of them are going to vote with their pocketbooks and do their Christmas shopping somewhere other than Westfarms mall. I am one of them.

And for what? Injunctions are supposed to be granted to prevent ``irreparable harm.'' What irreparable harm will Westfarms and Taubman suffer? They are merely trying to hinder competition, and their lawsuit ought to be thrown out of court.

The town's approval of Blue Back was a long and open process. Westfarms, as a taxpayer, participated in it, somewhat ignobly. Despite the Westfarms' scare tactics and distortions, a majority of residents voted in favor of the project. That should end the discussion.

If Mayor Eddie Perez wants middle-class people back in Hartford in large numbers, he'd better do something about noise.

Noise is what is known as a ``quality of life'' issue, and the city, finally, is taking these problems seriously. ``It's our top priority,'' said police department spokeswoman Nancy Mulroy.

The police have cracked down on speeders, mini-bikers, motorcycle racing (to some degree) and other problems. The cops are trying to stop the epidemic of license plate thefts and are offering residents special one-way bolts for their license plates. The department has moved against car break-ins with considerable success, reducing downtown diamond piles (my name for the piles of streetside broken glass that result from a break-in) from 60 to 70 a week a few years ago to 10 to 12 a week now, according to Deputy Chief Michael Fallon.

A big part of this effort was public education. Among other things, police officers and members of the Hartford Guides put ``dummy tickets'' on cars in which the driver has left something valuable in plain sight. Many people have smartened up and put valuables in the trunk. Plus, the courts have gotten tougher with repeat offenders.

Noise, one of the most underrated urban nuisances, one that will drive people to leave town, needs similar attention. I'm not talking about the inevitable ambient noise of sirens, helicopters and the like. I'm talking about ear-splitting stuff when working people are trying to sleep. People all over the city complain about auto racing, loud music and the use of car horns late at night. The police have taken some steps, such as buying a new noise meter. The city's noise ordinance is being re-examined. But the police can't be everywhere. Perez ought to do what he did with speeding and start a public education campaign.

Granted, someone who leans on a car horn at 4 a.m. may be beyond help and a candidate for the Massachusetts Home for the Terminally Obtuse. But getting the city behind a ``peace and quiet'' campaign can't hurt. It will at least tell residents that Hizzoner understands that nocturnal noise, whether from a boom car, Harley or Mister Softee, is unacceptable.